DAVE KING’s question and answer session is mind boggling stuff. I read it late last night and then had a quick look at the response that it got from some of their supporters. As usual King is a master at playing with them and in general their response was favourable.
Looking at it from a Celtic perspective then you would have to say that King has given the Celtic board an opportunity to respond to the remarks made about our club – in particular his comparison of Celtic with the corrupt club that cheated, borrowed huge sums of money from the Bank of Scotland, avoided paying taxes and ultimately stiffed hundreds of creditors for hundreds of millions pounds as it was liquidated.
Celtic have been defamed by Dave King and should set the record straight.
Of course we all know that Celtic are a very well run club, are financially sound and have proper corporate governance that would prevent Celtic even considering going down the road that Sir David Murray, using almost a billion pounds of borrowed money from the Bank of Scotland, travelled.
Yet when you read King’s remarks – this is what he appears to believe will happen if he can just wrestle one league win away from Parkhead.
Even if he could he is miles from being correct, but what if he can’t do that?
What if Celtic keep winning the league – 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 20 in a row…when does King, who claims to be deliberately running the club at a loss every season so he can catch and overtake Celtic, run out of money?
Is there another rich Rangers supporter who would do the same and pour millions into a loss making club to attempt to catch Celtic?
Last night we carried an article that is well worth a read and it included a link to an article on another website that actually looks in a professional manner at the strategic situation in Scottish football and examines the relative positions of Celtic comparing this to Rangers, Aberdeen, Hibs and the rest.
The conclusions are unpleasant reading for any supporter of the club Charles Green founded.
Here’s a little piece of that…
Anyone wanting to consider the actual gap between Celtic and Rangers, and indeed the rest of the clubs in the league should read THIS – it is highly recommended.
For those who haven’t bothered clicking on link above – and you really should yo know – here’s a quick look at the gap between Celtic and the side Steven Gerrard is taking over:
On that basis, let’s take a more detailed look at the financial league table:
2016/17 Celtic Rangers The “Gap”
European Football £38.5M – +£38.1M
Domestic Football £30.5M £25.2M +£5.3M
Merchandising £16.5M £2M +£14.5M
Commercial £5M £1.9 +£3.1M
Total Revenue £90.5M £29.1M +£61.4M
Player Trading £9.6M (£0.4M) +£10M
Total Income £100.1M £28.7M +£71.4M
And all that before the VVD cheque is banked!
King was asked how can he make up the gap to Celtic, and here’s his reply:
“We appoint a manager who can win games, with more resources, and we take one league away from Celtic. We only need one league. We don’t need two or three. We need one. Once we take one away, it’s a pack of cards,” he replied.
Celtic are a pack of cards and will fold if King can manage one title win!
It was then pointed out to Dave King that Celtic can still better his own investment and he was asked how does he solve that?
“It depends if they decide to invest or how well they invest. One would expect a reaction from Celtic to the appointment of Steven – we will have to wait and see what it is.
“With all Celtic’s resources they are not a million points away from Aberdeen or Hibs and they have resources that are far less than what we have at the moment.
“We are bringing in a manager we think can tip the balance in our favour. Celtic might be over-resourced but you can still only play 11 players. They have a big squad earning a lot of wages but these wages are not all getting on the pitch. There are opportunities there,” King replied.
Next he was asked about The Champions League group stages growing ever harder to reach, with Celtic having struggled a few times to get through under the previous manager?
“If it’s hard then it’s harder for both of us. We don’t have to guarantee it, we have to narrow the gap against Celtic. If Celtic are not getting it then that’s fine in that sense. It’s bad for Scottish football but it doesn’t create a gap between us,” King replied, admitting in doing so that Celtic’s success in reaching the Champions League Group stages will hurt the Ibrox club by widening the gap he has to close if they are to survive.
This is incredible stuff even by Dave King’s own very low standards. Here are the next few questions…
You really think it would be like a pack of cards at Celtic if you won the league?
“Celtic’s costs structure is more like we were 10 years ago. We needed Champions League football and if we went into the Europa League we were in trouble because the cost structure was so high. Take that away for one season and it will change the numbers in the Celtic side very very quickly. They have the comfort levels we once had of knowing we were going to get Champions League money. We have to take that away from them and hopefully we have started that process on Friday.”
Do you think Celtic should be further ahead?
“The question was that with Celtic’s resources, does it put you beyond them forever? The answer is clearly no. We have seen the cycle. I was with Rangers when we thought Celtic would never catch up – never in a hundred years. I think it lasted 11 minutes of the next game we played against them. Dick Advocaat said they would never, ever catch up. But 11 minutes into the next game they caught up and then went past us because Martin O’Neill came in and figured out a different way to do it. You need the right management structure to do it. At the moment we’ve gone more top heavy on management because we have invested in the squad and struggled with stability in the manager’s office. We’ve gone the other way. We have now gone very, very strong in the management squad.”
This is absolutely incredible stuff from King and Celtic should say something today in response to set the record straight.
Of course the man mostly responsible for the death of Rangers – Sir David Murray – is still out there and is rumoured to be one of the investors waiting in the wings to “invest” in the Ibrox club. King shot that one down saying that the chances were “less than zero” of that happening.
Roughly the same then as Rangers catching Celtic then Dave?
They are on the road to ruin all over again and just like the last time for their last club, the bears don’t see it coming.
They should be scared reading that Q&A but perversely they are rather pleased at Dave King’s stance.
Here we go for 10,11, 12…in a row!
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